Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Karen Potter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Karen , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I studied art at UCSC, mostly landscape painting. I also earned a teaching credential but, soon after, I started a second family (I had one daughter previously and soon had 3 sons) I had a lot less time! I also ended up homeschooling my boys. Around that same time, I lost my studio (renovations). I also ended up working as a teacher for a Charter school for homeschool families.
But it was important to me to keep my creative ‘toe in the water’, so, everyday I journaled which included a small ‘self-portrait’ depicting how I felt more than how I looked, along with a poetry sketch and a journal entry. Fast forward, many years later with my kids out of school (and out of the house) and me retiring from teaching, I knew it was, finally, ‘my time’. I still loved outdoor painting (I live in such a beautiful area) but I decided to do something with these journal ‘entries’. So, I started to choose one from each month to turn into a painting. I had no intention of trying to show or sell these; it was just something I needed to do. I loved the process because the drawing would ‘evolve’ often into something new.
So, it was very exciting when Randie Silverstein (who curates for the Big Basin wine bar), invited me to show my work and gave me the freedom to show whatever I wanted and I decided to take the leap and show my personal work, specifically, the work from a tough time for me (and all of us), during the shutdowns, when I developed terrible Insomnia. The show was titled “Awake all Night: Insomnia in the Years of Covid”. It was such a marvel and delight to have them hanging together and to realize I had something here. I also included some of the original drawings and the poems.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My father was an artist (and caricaturist) early in his marriage to my mom. In fact, it is a caricature drawn by him that is hanging on the wall of one of the characters in “The Conversation”. However, he had to abandon his artistry when the children began to arrive! Still, we all (6 of us) drew all the time from buckets of crayons.
I reconnected with doing art while at UCSC (getting my teaching credential). It was too beautiful to not paint it and I had wonderful teachers (Jack Zajac, Hardy Hanson, Don Weygandt, Terry St. John). I began selling and showing some of my work.
Then, a new family and needing to work to help support us, I had less time (and no studio) but I continued my journal drawing and writing and some painting as well. The works generated are certainly one of a kind. Not only are they personal, have a story, but they also (most) have a poem.
More recently, I have been busy. Besides Open Studio (before Covid), I was in accepted into the 91st California Annual Statewide Juried Landscape Painting Show, participated in the Capitola Plein Air event (a week of a group of artists painting in and around Capitola, ending with a show), the Member’s Show at the Santa Cruz Art League, had a painting shown in the book “American Artwork 2023”, had the show at Big Basin Vineyard Wine Bar, have work showing at our family restaurant , “Persephone” in Aptos, participated in a show (still there) at Signage Works Gallery called “The Process”.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
To trust my artistic instincts, to not worry about what I ‘should’ paint, what will ‘sell’, what people will ‘like’ but to paint what I see as true and beautiful and to continue to grow and refine that development.
Have you ever had to pivot?
As I mentioned before, having to give up painting with no time and no studio but continuing with my tiny drawings and poetry sketches.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kgpotter.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karengoudgepotter
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Karen-Goudge-Potter
Image Credits
Just me.